Dethroned
by jadetarsier
Summary: Nida attends the meeting where Squall is to be crowned King of the Card Club. Things don't go quite as expected... One-shot. For the Successor Challenge 2018.


Four minutes past the hour.

Nida glanced around the room at the other members of the Card Club. They were all looking at him, like maybe it was his fault the newest member hadn't arrived yet. True, it was his job as the lowest-ranking member to make sure all the secret invitations were sent out. But he took the Club as seriously as anyone else and he'd done his job.

"You're sure you left the note where he would find it?" Quistis—aka King (for the moment anyway)—asked.

Nida scowled at Quistis's lack of faith in him. "I put it in his gunblade case. He couldn't have missed it." Quistis regarded him critically. Nida did his best not to sound hopeful when he added, "Maybe he's just not coming."

Quistis shook her head. "He would have let someone know. He wouldn't just not show."

"You sure about that?" Xu, current Queen, asked.

Nida's expression softened, thinking he might have heard the faintest edge of hope creeping into Xu's voice. She too would be perfectly happy for the new member to skip the meeting.

The truth was, no one there really wanted Squall to show. The introduction of new members was always a painful process. You got into the club by defeating, and thereby dethroning, a current member. That member went down a rank, as did each member below. The bottom member was displaced out of the club.

Finally, there was the sound of footsteps and a knock at the door. Nida let out a resigned sigh as the Knight moved to the door. "State the password."

The sounds of scuffling, and muffled voices. More than one voice. The Knight looked to Quistis and Xu. Membership in the Card Club was secret, and under no circumstances were meetings even to be discussed with non-members.

"This meeting is for CC members only! Bringing friends is not allowed!"

"Squall didn't bring friends! His friends brought him!" Nida easily recognized the voice.

" _Rinoa…_ " Quistis sighed.

"Let us in! We have to explain! Pllleeeaaasssseee!" another, equally recognizable, voice cried from the other side of the door.

Knight turned to Quistis again. There was no protocol in place for this situation.

Rinoa and Zell continued to lament on the other side of the door. Even though he hadn't heard Squall's voice, Nida imagined Squall standing in the hallway, his expression neutral, perhaps a slight flushing of his cheeks the only indication of any emotion.

Xu had had enough. "This is ridiculous. Just open the door."

Knight complied, and Zell stumbled in first, apparently having been leaning against the door. Rinoa followed on Zell's heels, scooting in as though she feared the door being closed on her.

Squall stood with his arms crossed. He didn't even enter the room. "I just came to say, I don't want to be in the club. Just pretend like I never challenged anyone."

Squall started to leave but Xu and Quistis grabbed him by the arms and dragged him in. "You can't just leave. You defeated the reigning King. You're the King now."

Squall glanced at Rinoa with an _I-told-you-so_ sort of look.

"Um, yeah, you see, this is kinda my fault…" Rinoa began. Her eyes shifted to Zell. "So, I noticed Squall had a lot of cards. I just wanted to look at them! I was going to give them right back. This is when we were camping, by the way. So we had a fire, and I was on first watch, and I was looking at the cards, and then it was Zell's turn—"

"I saw Rinoa with all these cards! And I know she doesn't even play! And so I knew they must be Squall's and I've always wanted to see his cards, everyone knows he has an epic deck, and I just wanted to see what he had and Rinoa wouldn't let me—"

"I was trying to protect his privacy!"

"—And Irvine left his stupid hat out. And the firewood… Hey, if I hadn't had Ifrit junctioned, I probably would've been badly burned! Ironic that Ifrit was one of the cards that got burned up, right?" Zell paused briefly.

No one else appreciated the irony and Rinoa picked up the story. "I did manage to save a couple cards! There's a mushroom, and a bat… and cockatrice! He can be nasty!"

Squall tossed a few cards on the nearest desk. There were six cards, burned to various degrees, all Level 1 and Level 2 monster cards. Nida thought he heard someone gasp. If that was the remains of Squall's deck…

There was a moment of silence. Everyone knew Squall had the best deck in Garden, full of one-of-a-kind cards.

"You can rebuild your deck," Quistis offered quietly.

Squall shook his head. "I hereby forfeit to each of you, or whatever else I have to do to resign my position in the Club."

He left his singed cards on the table and walked out the door.

"…Sorry!" Rinoa squeaked as she followed him.

"Um…" Zell scratched the back of his head. "So this is the Card Club, huh? I've always wanted—"

"Get out!" Knight yelled.

Zell took off after Squall and Rinoa.

* * *

A week later, Nida found Squall resting in a corner of the Training Center.

After Squall left the Card Club meeting, and everyone recovered from their shock, the meeting had resumed just long enough to confirm that there would be no changes in rank at that time. Everyone had hurried away, perhaps unsettled by the strange turn of events, or maybe just not wanting to stick around in case Squall changed his mind.

Nida, though, had lingered. He took the time to claim the burnt cockatrice—Squall had surrendered it when he forfeited, after all—and thought a bit more about Squall's story. Or, rather, Rinoa and Zell's story.

There was a lot that didn't add up.

Was he really supposed to believe Rinoa palmed Squall's entire deck while his back was turned? And then instantly burned his entire deck in a tiny campfire? And how was it that she managed to save only the worst cards? Zell, at least, should have recognized the better cards and tried to save something worthwhile.

Nida sat down beside Squall. "Sorry about your cards."

"Sorry about the meeting. I was just going to slip Quistis a note explaining I was dropping out, but Rinoa caught me. And then Zell got involved…"

"Don't worry about it. It was the most exciting CC meeting I've ever been to. Still, it's a shame about your cards."

Squall shrugged. "They're just cards."

"But…you worked so hard to collect them. Rumor had it you had virtually every possible card. Everyone envied your deck. Some people even thought it wasn't fair, that you couldn't be beat."

Squall took a sip from his water bottle. "I know."

"How can you not care? You didn't even seem mad at Rinoa and Zell."

Squall sighed. "Do you really think Rinoa could take my whole deck without me noticing? I let her take a few monster cards, so she wouldn't mess with the rest."

"So she didn't burn your high level cards?"

"No. She didn't."

"So you still have your deck! That's great!"

"I said Rinoa didn't burn them. She just gave me the idea. I dropped them in the fire myself."

"But...why?"

Squall took another drink as he stood up. "I think you've already answered that."


End file.
